PARIS — Israel’s Elbit has launched a 19-kilogram directional infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) system, called mini-Music, which an official claims has “no competition.”

Designed to protect helicopters such as the AH-64 Apache, NH90 and H-60 Black Hawk from surface-to-air missiles, the product joins Elbit’s Music range of larger DIRCMs are already mounted on Israeli civil aircraft. The systems have also been purchased by the Brazilian Air Force for KC390 aircraft and by the Italian Air Force for C-27J and C-130J aircraft and for AW101 helicopters.

Unnamed customers have also mounted Music products on a 707 tanker and an AW101 in VIP configuration.

The new, smaller mini-Music uses the same fiber laser as larger versions, fired from a sealed turret at incoming missiles it has tracked with a thermal tracker after being alerted to the threat by a missile warning system. The laser impedes the optics of the incoming missile and causes it to be deflected from the aircraft.

Northrop Grumman was the first to market a DIRCM, and firms like such as and Indra have since entered the market with their own products.

“Selex are where we were about five to six years ago,” Adi Dar, executive vice president at Elbit Systems Electro Optics, said at the Paris Air Show. “The mini-Music has no competition.” ■